Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1887-01-01
GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE.
BOSTON EYES.
The Report of a Boston Lady Phllan-
thropist on Montana Society.

The Report of a Boston Lady Philan-
thropist on Montana Society.
CAoteau Ca}uznst:: Miss Williams. a
lady missionary representing an eastern
society OF philanthropists. lately visited
this neighborl1ood to investigate and report
the condition of the Piegans and other In
dams. We had not the pleasure Of meet
ing the lady, but from information receiv-
ed it is safet to Judge that the society which
she represents will be highly pleased with
her report. 1t will substantially agree
with the idea so universally entertained
BY missionary societies-that the Indians
are a superior race of beings reduced to a
most deplorable condition by contact with
Infamous whites. As all facts have prob
ably been viewed through Boston specta-
cles it would seem thai the report might
as we'll have been written at the Hub
without the trouble and expense Of a
journey to this benighted region; but Miss
Williams is evidently aclose observer, and
while our respect for the lady conpels us
to believe that she. will confine herself
strictly to facts and is Incapable Of exag-
geration, it is simply terrifying to think of
the adverse conclusions that may be drawn
from her official contribution to missionary
literature. She was Mortified at the de-
pravity Of the residents of Choteau, who
actually drank whiskey and played bill
lizards ON Sunday; she was shocked at the
number of half-breed children seen on her
journey, and was quite astonished to find
that the store-keepers sold sardines and
condensed milk ''in a country whose
streams abound with trout and whose pas
lures are covered with cows" AS seen
from Bunker Hill, by the electric light of
culture and refinement, these things look
blue for US whites. While they furnish
unquestionable evidence of our natural
deprayity, they also prove the Indian to
be our moral if not Oar intellectual s,lpe-
rior; for is he not free from many Of those
vices to which We are addicted, in spite OF
our demoraliZing influence and the absence
of social and religious advantages? 1t will
be the conscientious duty of Miss Williams
to state in her report that while the saloons
at Choteau are open on the Sabbath, they
are f%requented only by white people. The
noble red man never crooks his elbow at
the bar or punches the festive worries on
the emerald cloth. His children are
th~oroughbreds and he scorns the dyspeptlc
sardine and the poisonous canned cow
juice. And she will doubtless feel con-
strained to relate other instances of moral
o%bliquity. II states that while at Birch
creek an unfortunate white sinner was
caught in the act Of playing poker for an
a%S-handle, the sole earthly possession of a
Piegan chief. The chief played well, but
five aces robbed him of his handle. On
other occasion a long suffering ranchmen,
lamenting the loss of ibis horses and quite
unconscious of the missionary's presence,
expressed a wish that the smallpox might
annihilate the whole Piegan tribe. A re-
port bristling nith such IN array of facts
must tell seriously against us. We may
plead extenuating circumstances, and pro-
mise reform in the sweet bye and bye with
the advent Of prohibitory laws, jails,
churches and poor houses, but if Miss
Williams tells all she thinks she knows
about us, ice Toole and his 1000 majority
viii never open the Piegan reservation.
On the other hand, her report may have
the effect of removing the Piegans to Bos-
on or some other abode of bliss remote
from the temptations of wicked Choteau.
In the latter event Miss Williams will
have accomplished the grandest missionary
work ever performed in this garden spot,
where as she kindly stated,
.Every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile"
The Bridge at Great Falls.